Light Up The Delaware River: 9-6-09 Is Party Day!

In my July 17, 2009 post, I wrote, “Imagine a Delaware River Basin [Party]…that stretches the entire 330 miles of the Basin. Each river community will go to the river and each person will pour a single cup of water into it.

“When Gandhi led the Indian people to the sea to make salt…the British Empire laughed…. They made fun of the ‘little brown man,’ as the newsreels described the Mahatma. But, when images of thousands and thousands of people making salt hit the international teletypes,… the sun began to set on the British Empire.

“…[at the Delaware River Party] I imagine, each community will organize whatever ancillary celebrations they want — a festival, show movies, sell locally-produced goods, play baseball, sleep, camp out — so long as they do it on the banks of the River. And that night,…a candlelight vigil will stretch 330 miles.

“Dream on, right? But that image and the power in it are far more imaginable to me than what the drillers have planned for our Valley.”

* * * *

The response was a startling, unanimous, “Let’s do it!”

So Leni Santoro (The Catskill Chronicle) and I are hitting the road for our “Light Up The Delaware River” trip that starts this Friday August 14, 2009 in Philadelphia, PA and ends in Hancock, NY on August 16th.

We’ll be hand-delivering September 6, 2009 (Labor Day) Delaware River Basin Partyinvitations to as many community organizations and activists as we can reach. (If you’d like to meet up with us along the road, don’t be shy! Email me at: Ljbucar@earthlink.net Best of all, you can download a printable version of the invitation at the end of this post.)

The threat to the Delaware River Basin cannot be exaggerated so we’re asking local community organizers to do a ridiculous amount of work in a very short time.

Once you have the party invitation in hand and on your computer (download below) please:

Alert your local media about our road trip and The Delaware River Basin Labor Day Party. (Media websites always have an email address where you can send press releases and news tidbits.)

Email the invitation to your friends and family so they can

Help you distribute the invitations door-to-door or in front of your local post offices or wherever else people gather in your community.

Forward it to all the river-lovers, water-lovers, community organizers, environmental groups and media you know.

If you have time, organize complimentary celebrations in your community. (One group is sponsoring a “Toxic Canoe Regatta,” but whatever you plan, do it on the banks of the River.)

Fifteen million people depend on The Delaware River Basin for their water so it’s critical that this Labor Day we focus national attention on the dangers posed to it by drilling and fracking. We need as many people and media as possible to gather along the banks of the River on September 6, 2009to celebrate the works of the River, its culture and its people.

The evening of the party, at 7:00 PM, each person in each community will pour a single cup of water into the River. At 7:30 PM, we’ll light our candles — a 330-mile long beacon — from Hancock to Philadelphia.

In a recent article I wrote, “On July 15, 2009, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) extended the public comment period on Chesapeake Appalachia’s application to begin withdrawing up to 30 million gallons of surface water per month for a ten year period.”

Many of us worry that despite its inclinations, the DRBC will be politically-driven to render approval. Such approval will open the door to what both conservationists and drilling proponents predict will be thousands of wells in the Basin.

In accord with Damascus Citizens for Sustainability (DCS), Leni and I want the DRBC to table all drilling and fracking applications until after an Environmental Impact Statement has been issued and independent, scientific studies have evaluated the cumulative impacts of drilling, fracking and waste water disposal on the Delaware River Basin.

When you’re at The Delaware River Basin Party on September 6, 2009, don’t forget to sign up to support the legal battles Damascus Citizens for Sustainability has been waging on behalf of the Basin as well as the expertise it’s been gathering over the past eighteen months. In large part, DCS is the reason there’s still a battle to win.

Click this flyer link for a printable version of the Delaware River Party Invitation: 8-11-09 flyer